LAND BIRDS OF THE PACIFIC DISTRICT. 



In the fall of 1883 the leading ornithologists of the 

 United States and Canada met at New York and organ- 

 ized the American Ornithologists' Union, appointed 

 committees for the revision of the classification and no- 

 menclature of North American birds, on their migration, 

 avian anatomy, the elegibility of the European house 

 sparrow in America, and on faunal areas. 



The United States and British North America were 

 divided into thirteen districts, including the light-houses 

 of the coasts as one, with a superintendent for each dis- 

 trict. 



The Pacific District comprises California, Oregon, 

 Washington and Nevada, in which I superintended the 

 collection of data concerning migration and distribution 

 of the birds for about two years, resigning early in 1886, 

 as I thought we had already accomplished about all we 

 were likely to in this line of inquiry, with the limited 

 number of observers. The report from the District of 

 British Columbia, Mr. John Fannin, Superintendent, 

 was, at the suggestion of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Chair- 

 man of the Committee on Migration, and by the courtesy 

 of Mr. Fannin, incorporated in our report. 



Mr. Fannin informed me that his list of British 

 Columbia birds was made up partly from his own notes 

 and partly from those published by John K. Lord, and 

 says that having traveled the province pretty extensively, 

 he has ascertained that Mr. Lord made some mistakes 

 in limiting the range of some species, and in recording 

 the habits of others, and that the observations concern- 

 ing British Columbia must be taken as referring to the 

 whole province, and not for any particular district, un- 

 less otherwise stated. 



"British Columbia," he writes, "is a country of 



